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Origin

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Take a good look Bruce. What do you see? You've never fought someone with all your training. Your discipline. See it yet? I'm not him in a batsuit. I'm you. You. How you are supposed to be without the codes. Without the rules. Except one. BATMAN. ALWAYS. WINS.

Contents

History

Origin

The story of the Batman of Earth -22 was not much different from that of any other version of the Caped Crusader. However, everything went sideways when the Joker decided to go all out in his attempt to destroy Gotham. While being drugged and restrained, this Batman was forced to watch helplessly as his nemesis systematically razed his home. After bragging about leveling hospitals, killing other villains, and brutally ending Jim Gordon with acid, he forced Bruce to watch as he began murdering adults in front of their children in Crime Alley. If that wasn't enough, he Jokerized the orphaned children and set them loose on what was left of the city. Driven beyond the breaking point, Batman overcame the drugs in his system and beat Joker to a pulp. When Joker promised to keep bringing the chaos he has witnessed over and over again, Bruce lost himself completely and snapped Joker's neck, causing a mysterious gas to leave his mouth and engulf Bruce.[1]

Two days after the murder of the Joker, Batman and Superman talked about what happened. Bruce revealed that Joker went as far as he did because the chemicals that changed him in the first place had eaten away at whatever sanity he had left. Though he felt no guilt, he affirmed that he was not planning to make killing a regular thing. When Superman updated him on the status of the Jokerized kids, such as their violent tendencies, Bruce - uncharacteristically - lets out a small laugh, something that alarmed them both.[1]

Three days after that, Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin were training in the Batcave when they notice the training robots were fighting harder than usual. Though they succeed at the exercise, Nightwing voiced what they're all feeling; something was wrong and Bruce brought them there to talk about it. Bruce explained that an advanced toxin he had never encountered was inside the Joker's body, set to release when he died and infect a single person. It managed to spread just enough to infect Bruce, and has been altering his brain to mix his knowledge with Joker's lack of morality. The rest of the family immediately began thinking of possible solutions or methods to keep him locked up until they could do so, but Bruce explained the real reason he brought them there; so he could gun them all down because they would have noticed his change first and alert the other heroes, which he proceeded to do.[1]

By one week after the fall of the Batman Family, Bruce had slaughtered the rest of the Justice League by using the stockpiles of various villains' weaponry they had built up over the years. On the Justice League Watchtower, he cornered the last ones standing; Superman and his immediate family. Bruce unveiled a warped Damian and the rest of the Dark Robins to Clark, then exposed him and his son and Jon to a modified Black Kryptonite, designed to send Kryptonians into a killing frenzy before it killed them, which he had done previously to Supergirl to cause her to murder her fosterparents. As the two murder Lois, Bruce's transformation into The Batman Who Laughs finished, allowing him to cackle as his best friend and the man's son tore Lois apart before dying.[1]

The people of Earth -22 fight back, but Bruce annihilated everything they threw at him until he and his Robins were all that remained. As his world began to fade from existence, Barbatos arrived and revealed the rest of the Dark Multiverse to him, and his plans to go after the true Multiverse as well. Believing him to be the ideal Bat to help him, he made him the spearhead for his plans to drag all of creation into darkness.[1]

Assembling the Knights

The Batman Who Laughs went out into the Dark Multiverse to assemble the most twisted versions of Batman out there to aid in conquering the main Multiverse. Traveling to each of the Knights' worlds minutes before they were erased from existence, he appealed to their desire not only to live, but to bring their unique brands of truth and justice to worlds beyond their own. Each Batman jumped at the opportunity, and they awaited their moment to travel to Earth 0. Once the Court of Owls summoned them, his first act was to have his warped Robins slaughter the Court's leaders. He then set the Knights loose upon the hometowns of each member of the Justice League.

This Batman was next seen aiding the other Knights in defeating Cyborg aboard the Watchtower. Once Victor was down, the Batman Who Laughs explained that they had been called into this universe because of a great ringing, and that despite their nightmarish nature, they were needed to save the world.[2]

Games in Gotham

After taking over the Justice League Watchtower, each Dark Knight was given control of a city. The One Who Laughs was assigned the protection of Gotham, as it was where Barbatos would fulfill his plans.

Bruce fought his way through Arkham Asylum, causing a mass breakout of the mentally impaired. Bruce offered playing cards made out of Cosmic Metallurgy to worst of Batman's enemies, a material originating in the Dark Multiverse which allowed the wielder to manipulate reality. The villains to receive the cards were the Riddler, Poison Ivy, Firefly, Bane, Mister Freeze and Mad Hatter. These villains were each given a section of the city to rule over, with Challengers Mountain sitting in the middle of the city. The quadrants were designed so that if someone wanted to get to Batman on top of the Challengers Mountain, they would have to go through each villain to get there.[3]

The One Who Laughs was able to see the carnage ensue from his mountain top, viewing each villain's actions with the reality warping powers of his cards. Eventually the Teen Titans, a group of teenage superheroes led by Robin, entered the arena of war. Riddler was located in the outermost ring of the city and so battled the young heroes first. Robin soon became separated with the rest of the Titans, forging an alliance with fellow hero Green Arrow to defeat Riddler. Due to his lack of imagination with the card, Riddler was defeated by the Titans. Disappointed by the waste of a card, Bruce decided to send his Damian into battle against the Teen Titans.[3]

Death in the Family

The Suicide Squad also made their way into the city where Killer Croc and Harley Quinn quickly became separated from the rest of the Squad. Robin and Arrow soon met up with Nightwing in Freeze's realm, with Croc and Quinn joining shortly afterwards. Meanwhile the Suicide Squad and the Teen Titans formed an alliance but were quickly ambushed by Bruce's army of Robins led by Damian. Damian was able to capture the two teams, who were forced into servitude after being effected by Bruce's Joker Gas. Robin, Croc, Harley, Nightwing and Arrow, now known as the Resistance, were able to defeat Mister Freeze after discovering an armoury of Nth Metal in an old vault, capable of effecting the denizens of the Dark Multiverse.[4]

The Resistance trekked through the territory of Firefly, avoiding his minions where they could. Eventually they were captured by Poison Ivy, however they were able to escape. They then came across Damian with the Jokerized Suicide Squad and Teen Titans. The Resistance were no match for the far superior enemy and so fled into the territory of Mad Hatter.[5]

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Bats out of Hell

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The Batman Who Laughs watches as his teammates torture the Justice League, but his joy is interrupted by Cyborg, who saves the Justice League. He attacks Wonder Woman after she finds Hawkman's mace, shooting her in the head with bullets made of the 8th metal. Later, he reveals he has captured the Over-Monitor, who, when linked up with the Anti-Monitor's astral brain, would destroy all of reality, both the Dark Multiverse and the Multiverse and leave nothing but darkness. However, his plan is interrupted by the Justice League and their allies from the Multiverse, including Batman of an Older Universe, Vampire Batman, and a Batman of Earth-30. Bruce Wayne of Prime Earth confronts The Batman Who Laughs, resulting in Bruce getting shot. However, the Joker arrives and assists Bruce in fighting The Batman Who Laughs, cutting off his fingers in the process. The Joker explains to the Batman Who Laughs his one true weakness: he is able to come up with everything, but only for things that Bruce Wayne can think of. And the one thing that Bruce Wayne would never plan on is Batman teaming up with the Joker. Bruce escapes with the Over-Monitor while the cave collapses on The Batman Who Laughs and the Joker, leaving their fates unknown.

The Legion of Doom

Sometime after assisting the House of Conquest, Batman was captured by Lex Luthor and imprisoned in the Hall of Doom. Bruce was capable of breaking out of this cell at any point, but wanted to bide his time. Eventually Lex released Bruce in exchange for knowledge about the Omniverse's secrets.[6]

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The Batman Who Laughs

Batman ends up finding the dead body of a Bruce Wayne seemingly from a different universe. Upon further inspection, he deduces that the Batman Who Laughs is behind it. Meanwhile, in Arkham Asylum, yet another Batman from the Dark Multiverse namely Grim Knight appears and guns down most of the security guards in order to reach the Joker's cell. The Batman Who Laughs himself makes an appearance only to discover that the Joker is a decoy. In the Batcave, the real Joker turns up and Batman offers protection and partnership. The Joker instead commits suicide stating that the only way Batman can defeat The Batman Who Laughs is by becoming him. The same toxin seems to take effect on Batman who starts laughing menacingly, much to Alfred's horror.

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Cosmic Awareness: Unlike most mortals in the Omniverse, Bruce is aware of multiple different realities. He is aware of his own Dark Multiverse as well as the opposite Multiverse. He also knows how the Dark Multiverse was formed, as he was told by Barbatos.[7] Finally he is aware of an ancient and all powerful being known as Perpetua, which few others in existence know of. He is so familiar with time travel that he can smell cronal energy on people.[6]

Escapology: Batman is able to escape from almost any precarious situation. He has proven himself capable enough to escape a magical cell strong enough to keep the incredibly powerful wizard Merlin locked up for a thousand years.[6]

Investigation: On his world Bruce was considered "the world's greatest detective". He was able to deduce the entire plan of Lex Luthor even though he was locked inside a cell with no plausible way of finding out his secrets.[6]

Tactical Analysis: Batman is a master tactician. Using his knowledge of their various weaknesses, Batman was able to systematically eliminate every member of his Justice League. He went up against the people of his world, armies of villains, alien tyrants, and the wrath of gods. Still he prevailed as he used his methodical mind to exterminate all those who resisted him.[1]

Martial Arts: Bruce has all the same training and skills as the Batman of Earth 0 and has never lost a one on one fight. Laughs was able to take on the Earth 0 Batman and Joker at the same time for a short while.[7]

Dark Metal Cards: Bruce possesses a set of cards forged out of Cosmic Metallurgy. Cosmic Metallurgy is a material found in the Dark Multiverse with interesting properties. When in the "light" Multiverse the wielder of a Dark Card can manipulate reality to his or her whim.[3]

Trivia

The character's name was influenced off of two silent films that inspired Bob Kane and Bill Finger to create both Batman and the Joker: "The Bat" (1926) and "The Man Who Laughs" (1928).

This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category.

This character is or was a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from both interstellar and domestic threats.This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice League of America members" category.

Legion of Doom memberThis character is or was a member of the Legion of Doom, a team of supervillains culled together for the purpose of conquering the world and defeating the Super Friends, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Legion of Doom members" category.

This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Justice League, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Justice League Villains."